Liquefied gas fuel injection valve



Feb. 3, 1970 KENJIRO GOTO 3,493,019

LIQUEFIED GAS FUEL INJECTION VALVE Filed Sept. 15, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 A /J -Z 4 -24 INVENTOR KQvu/Ro 6071 mm, mm

ATTORNEYS Feb. 3,1970 KENJIRO (501-0 I 3,493,019 I LIQUEFIED GAS FUEL INJECTION'VALVE Filed Sept. 15. 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ENTOR HQO Go To BY @L6; .1

ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,493 019 LIQUEFIED GAS FUEI: INJECTION VALVE Kenjiro Goto, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Mansei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Kawaguchi, Japan, a corporation of US. Cl. 141-330 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A liquefied gas fuel injection valve comprising a fuel reservoir adapted to be filled with a predetermined amount of liquefied fuel under pressure, a cylindrical member secured within said reservoir in the lower portion of the latter, a bored needle-like member extending Within said cylindrical member and stationarily held therein, an annular displaceable seat member disposed within said cylindrical member, an annular deformable sealing member received within said seat member for being individually deformed and for displacement together with said seat member, a plug member threaded in said cylindrical member and a coil spring disposed between said plug member and seat member for normally urging said sealing member toward its sealing position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Up to date, many liquefied gas fuel injection valves have been proposed and been actually employed. Such conventional liquefied gas fuel injection valves can be broadly classified into two types, i.e., one is the type wherein the valve is provided with both a fuel injection passage and an exhaust gas passage and the other is the type wherein the valve is provided with only a fuel injection passage. The former type of valve is so constructed and arranged that a cylindrical member and movable members may provide exhaust gas passages into which the gas present within the liquefied gas fuel reservoir is adapted to be discharged and the exhaust gas passages may be normally sealed off by the sealing member, but when it is desired to charge the fuel reservoir with a supply of liquefied gas fuel the sealing member is moved so as to uncover the exhaust gas passages and communicate the passages with the reservoir whereby the exhaust gas within the reservoir may be allowed to escape into the exhaust gas passages and thus, the liquefied gas fuel may be easily injected into the reservoir without its enconuter with the resistance by the exhaust gas within the reservoir which otherwise remain within the reservoir. The latter type of valve is so constructed and arranged that no specific passage for the exhaust gas will be provided and instead liquefied gas fuel may be injected into the fuel reservoir Without the necessity for forcing the internal exhaust gas out of the reservoir.

It has been well known that when a liquid gas fuel is to be injected into a sealed vessel, if the exhaust gas present within the vessel is dispelled out of the vessel, such injection of the fuel may be smoothly carried out. In view of this point, the former type of valve as referred to hereinabove is preferable to the latter type of valve. However, as pointed out hereinabove, the former type of valve requires mechanical processing for the purpose of providing the exhaust gas passages in the cylindrical member and movable members of the injection valve and also special care in controlling the relation of the exhaust gas passages relative to any specific position of the sealing member. In addition, there are many other disadvantages inherent to the former type of valve. So far many attempts 3,493,019 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 have been tried in order to improve this type of valves while overlooking a most important point to be considered in designing this type of valve, that is, in almost all the conventional fuel injection valves of the former type, the cylindrical members and the movable members have been connected to the valve casing by means of threads and it has been almost impossible to prevent liquefied gas from leaking through the thread connections. Therefore, in the valves in which the cylindrical members and the movable members are connected to the valve casing by means of threads there exist exhaust gas passages, i.e., there are inevitable leakages of exhaust gas even without any specific provision of exhaust gas passages and the sealing members may be employed as a means for prevention of the exhaust gas leakages in such valves. From this fact, it will be realized that different from the conventional cylindrical sealing member which is integrally formed with the valve casing so as to serve as the bottom of the casing, if the cylindrical sealing member is formed as a separate member which is threaded in the valve casing so as to serve as the bottom of the valve casing, there is no necessity for provision of any specific exhaust gas passages in the associated parts of the valve and therefore, the injection valve can be constructed in a simpler manner and will have a quite high efiiciency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved liquefied gas injection valve and more particularly, to an improved liquefied gas fuel injection valve suitably employed in conjunction with a liquefied gas-filled lighter for injecting a supply of liquefied gas fuel into the lighter.

One object of the present invention is to provide a liquefied gas fuel injection valve comprising a separate bottom-forming cylindrical sealing member which is in threaded engagement with the associated cylindrical member of the valve and can perform a positive liquid sealing.

Another object of the present invention is to effectively prevent the sealing member from possible deformation and/or damage attributed to expansive pressure of the liquefied gas fuel received within the liquefied gas fuel reservoir when the liquefied gas fuel is sealed within a liquefied gas fuel injection valve.

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquefied gas fuel injection valve comprising a fuel reservoir adapted to be charged with a predetermined amount of liquefied gas fuel under pressure and sealingly hold the fuel therein, a cylindrical member disposed within said reservoir and secured to the inner wall of the reservoir in the lower portion of the latter, a needle-like member extending vertically within said cylindrical member and stationarily held in position, a plug secured to the inner wall of said cylindrical member at one end of the latter, an annular displaceable seat member fioatingly disposed within said cylindrical member in the vicinity of the other end of the latter, an annular deformable sealing member received Within said seat member for displacement together with the seat member, and a coil spring disposed between said plug and seat member under compressive force for normally urging said sealing member to the sealing position, said cylindrical member having a vertically extending smaller diameter center bore opening at one end of the cylindrical member and a coaxial larger diameter bore disposed in communication with said smaller diameter bore and having a thread in the inner periphery at the end remote from the smaller diameter bore, said smaller and larger diameter bores cooperating with each other to provide an annular shoulder in their juncture, said plug being provided with a thread in the outer periphery thereof for threaded engagement with said inner thread of the larger diameter bore and having a through center bore nd an annular recess surrounding said center through ore in a peripherally spaced relation to the center bore as to provide an annular partition wall therebetween, aid annular partition wall extending into said larger diamter center bore of the cylindrical member and terminatig at a thinner inwardly bent end, said needle-like memer extending within said smaller and larger diameter cen- :r bores of the cylindrical member along a substantial :ngth of the cylindrical member on the longitudinal xis of the latter and having one pointed end and the ther end received within a cavity defined by said thinner nwardly bent extension of the partition wall and staionarily retained therein, said needle-like member furher having a center bore extending along a substantial ength thereof and in communication with said center bore f the plug and a lateral opening formed in the wall of aid needle-like member and in communication with said enter bore of the needle-like member, said lateral openng being normally sealed by said annular sealing memer, and said coil spring having one end received within aid annular recess in the plug and the other end received vithin a circular recess formed on one side of said seat member for normally urging said sealing member against aid shoulder in the cylindrical member.

The above and other objects and advantages of the )resent invention will become apparent to those skilled n the art upon reading the following specification refering to the accompanying drawings in which preferred :mbodiments of the present invention are shown for illusration purposes only, but not for limiting the scope of he invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view in partial section of a iquefied gas-fueled lighter in which one form of liquefied gas injection valve according to the present invention is ncorporated to inject the liquid fuel into the lighter;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on an :nlarged scale of part of said liquefied gas-fueled lighter is shown in FIG. 1 especially showing the connection between the fuel spouting valve and the fuel reservoir;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view on a further enlarged scale of one preferred form of liquefied gas fuel injection valve embodying the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of said liquefied gas fuel injection valve as shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 3, but illustrates a modified form of liquefied gas fuel injection valve embodying the present invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the figures of the accompanying drawings and, more particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is illustrated one form of liquefied gas-fueled lighter having one'forrn of liquefied gas fuel injection valve by the presentinvention incorporated therein. As shown in this figure, the lighter generally comprises a hollow casing 1 which is divided into an upper chamber section 3 and a lower chamber section 4 by an intermediate lateral partition wall 2 which is integrally formed with the casing 1 and extends horizontally and inwardly from the inner wall of the casing towards the center of the casing. The partition wall 2 is formed with an eccentric opening 2' therein for the purpose to be described hereinbelow. The lower chamber section 4 houses a high voltage generation mechanism and a compressed liquid fuel reservoir therein and detailed description of both the voltage generation mechanism and liquid fuel reservoir will be made hereinbelow. The upper chamber section 3 houses a manipulation mechanism for the lighter therein and detailed description of the manipulation mechanism will be also made hereinbelow. As mentioned above, a compressed liquid fuel reservoir 5 is disposed within the lower chamber section 4 vertically extending through the lower chamber section 4 in a position nearer to one side (the right hand 4 side in FIG. 1) than to the other side (the left hand side of FIG. 1) of the lower chamber section, and the upper portion of the fuel reservoir upwardly projects through the eccentric opening 2 in the lateral partition wall 2 into the upper chamber section 3 of the casing 1. The projecting upper portion of the fuel reservoir 5 has at the upper end a liquefied gas fuel spouting valve A secured thereto in a liquid fuel transfer relation to the reservoir 5 while the lower portion of the fuel reservoir has a liquefied gas fuel injection valve B disposed therein in a liquid fuel supply relation to the lower reservoir portion. The fuel injection valve B is secured at its lower end to the interior of the bottom portion of the reservoir 5 by means of a conventional connecting and sealing means generally indicated with reference numeral 5a in FIG. 1. The high voltage generation mechanism is disposed with in the lower chamber section 4 extending vertically and lying in a plane parallel to the plane in which the fuel reservoir 5 lies. The high voltage generation mechanism generally comprises a hollow rectangular body 6 having an upwardly extending projection 6a on one side thereof. The interior of the hollow rectangular high voltage generation mechanism body 6 supports a seat member 7 at the inner bottom thereof. A piezoelectric element 8 is disposed on the seat member 7 and an impact responsive or receiving member 9 is disposed on the top surface of the piezoelectric element 8. The seat member 7, piezoelectric element 8 and impact responsive member 9 are surrounded by an insulating member 10 in the form of a cylinder which is provided in a spaced relation with respect to the inner surface of the body 6. An impact applying member 12 having a downwardly extending portion is disposed'above the impact responsive member 9 and normally adapted to be urged against the impact responsive member 9 by means of a coiled or compressive spring 11 which is disposed within the body 6 on the side opposite to the impact responsive member 9 whereby impact force may be delivered from the spring 11 through the impact responsive member 9 to the piezoelectric element 8. As mentioned hereinabove, the manipulation mechanism is disposed withinthe upper chamber section 3 of the hollow casing 1 and comprises a transverse shaft 13, a lateral manipulating member 14 which is at one end pivoted to the shaft 13, a vertical actuating plate 15 which is pivoted at 14a adjacent to the upper end thereof to the other end of the lateral manipulating member 14 and a leaf spring 16 which is wound around the pivot shaft 13 in turns more than one turn with one end abutting against the adjacent inner wall of the casing 1 and the other end engaging an integral lateral projection 15a in the plate 15. The actuating plate 15 further has near to and below the first lateral projection 15a an integral actuating or engaging projection 15b for engaging and actuating a valve opening and closing plate 17 disposed adjacent to the fuel spouting valve A. The actuating plate 15 further has at the lower end an engaging portion or pawl 15c adapted to engage a pin 12a on the impact applying member 12. A tubular member 18 is provided with the lower end extending into the casing 1 and the upper end of the tubular member 18 is formed as an enlarged diameter cylinder which serves as a nozzle portion 18a. An electrode seat 19 in a cup shape formed of an insulating material is fitted within the nozzle portion 18a of the tubular member 18. A flexible metal pipe 20 extends within the tubular member 18 in a liquid transfer relation to the fuel reservoir 5 and has at the upper end a nozzle 21 secured thereto and extending through the bottom of the electrode seat 19 in a liquid fuel transfer relation to the metal pipe 20. Thus, it will be understood that liquefied gas fuel under pressure from the fuel reservoir 5 is allowed to flow through the pipe 20 to the nozzle 21 where the fuel is discharged and ignited. A pair of laterally spaced discharge electrodes 22 and 23 are disposed within the nozzle portion 18a of the tubular member 18 above the electrode seat 19. The pair of discharge electrodes 22 and 23 are connected to the above-mentioned high voltage generation mechanism so as to form a spark gap therebetween. The lever 14 is raised a little higher upon which the pawl 15c will release the pin 12a to descend under the force of the spring 11 so as to strike the impact receiving member 9.

FIG. 2 illustrates in detail the connection between the fuel reservoir 5 and the fuel spouting valve A on an enlarged scale. The connection portion comprises a flanged tubular connector 24 which is disposed within a similar but larger cylindrical support member 23 which has an upper flange portion 23' flaring horizontally to serve as the top cover for closing the fuel reservoir 5 a substantially spherical metal member 25 provided at the lower end of a hollow or bored cylindrical lower extension of the valve A and having a center bore therethrough which is in alignment with the bore of the valve lower extension. The diameter of the spherical member 25 is slightly larger than that of the tubular connector 24 so that any leakage of liquefied gas fuel between the connector 24 and spherical member 25 may be effectively precluded. The connector 24 is formed of a suitable elastic material and has at the lower end a pierceable sealing diaphragm 24a which is adapted to be pierced or broken by a cylindrical piercing or communication member 26 which has a center bore therethrough and is adapted to be disposed Within the cylindrical support member 23 with its center bore in alignment with the bore of the spherical member 25 and thus with the bore of the above-mentioned cylindrical valve extension when the valve A and fuel reservoir 5 are connected to each other for liquid communication therebetween.

FIG. 3 illustrates in detail on an enlarged scale the fuel injection valve B shown in FIG. 1. The fuel injection valve B generally comprises a cylindrical body 27 which is at the lower end threaded into the inner thread at the lower portion 5a of the fuel reservoir 5 and which has a lower center bore 27a and an upper enlarged diameter center bore 27b continuous to the lower bore. Thus, the juncture between the lower and upper bores 27a and 27b provides an annular shoulder 270 which serves as a valve seat. The upper center bore 27b is provided in the inner upper portion with a thread 27d. A plug 28 having a thread 28a in the outer periphery is threaded into the thread 27d in the inner upper portion of the cylindrical member 27. The plug 28 has a through center bore 28b which serves as a fuel passage. An annular recess 280 is formed on the underside of the plug 28 in a surrounding relation to the center bore 28b thereby to provide an annular partition wall 28d between the center bore 28b and annular recess 28c and the partition wall extends downwards into the upper center bore 27b. The partition wall 28d reduces it thickness in the lower portion and bends inwardly so as to define a cavity which has a larger diameter than that of the center bore 28b and which is at the bottom in communication with the upper center bore 27b in the cylindrical member 27. As shown in the top plan view of FIG. 4, the periphery of the end portion of the plug 28 opposite to the cavity defining end portion thereof is cut flat on the diametrically opposite sides as shown with reference numeral 28c so that the plug may be easily screwed into the cylindrical member 27 by means of a suitable conventional screwing tool (not shown). A hollow needle-like member 29 extends vertically through the lower and upper center bores 27a and 27b in the cylindrical member 27 and has an enlarged diameter upper portion 29a disposed within the cavity defined by the partition wall 28d of the plug 28. The needlelike member 29 further has a center bore 2% extending along a substantial portion of the length of the needle-like member 29a and which communicates with the center bore 28b in the plug 28 and serves as a fuel flow passage. A lateral opening 29c is further formed in the wall of the needle-like member 29 and which communicates with the center bore 29b in the needle-like member 29. The needle-like member 29 tapers towards the lower end and terminates at a pointed tip 29d. As seen in FIG. 3, the partition wall 28d of the plug 28 bends inwards so as to abut against the enlarged upper portion 29a of the needle-like member 29 thereby to firmly hold the member 29 in position. An annular seat member 30 having a downwardly extending upright peripheral wall 30a and a center opening 30b is floatingly disposed within the upper center bore 27b in the cylindrical member 27. The seat member 30 has a diameter slightly smaller that of the upper center bore 27b in the cylindrical member 27 so that the seat member may shift vertically within the upper center bore 27b when an external force is applied thereagainst. A circular sealing member 31 formed of a deformable elastomeric material is retained within a circular recess defined by the upright peripheral wall 30a of the seat member 30. A coil spring 32 is disposed between the plug 28 and the seat member 30 with one end disposed in the annular recess 280 in the plug 28 and the other end disposed in the circular recess formed in the upper side of the seat member 30. Thus, it will be understood that the coil spring 32 normally applies a downward force against the seat member 30 and accordingly, urges the sealing member 31 against the shoulder 270 in the cylindrical member 27. As mentioned above, since the cylindrical member 27 and the plug 28 are mechanically connected to each other by means of the thread engagement, an exhaust gas passages may be naturally provided between the cylindrical member and plug and accordingly, when it is desired to inject the liquefied fuel gas into the reservoir, the flow of the fuel gas will not be subject to any resistance by the exhaust gas within the reservoir.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modified form of liquefied gas fuel injecton valve B which is somewhat different from the valve B of FIG. 3. In order to simplify description of the modified form of valve B', description of only the parts which are different from the corresponding parts of the first embodiment of valve B will be made referring to FIG. 5. The seat member has a peripheral wall 130a which has a length longer in the vertical direction than that of the seat member perpiheral wall 30a in the aforesaid valve B and which comprises a lower thinner portion and an upper thicker portion. The seat member 130 has a center bore 1301; having a larger diameter than that of the center bore 30b of the seat member 30 in the valve B. The seat member 130 further has an inner depending annular wall 130a which is integral with the outer peripheral wall 130a and connected with the outer peripheral wall 130a by means of the integral horizontal portion. The inner peripheral wall 130c surrounds the center bore 13%. The deformable sealing member 131 of the modified valve B has a complex configuration so as to conform the particular configuration of the lower section of the seat member 130. As seen in FIG. 5, the sealing member 131 bulges at the center portion through the annular center bore 13% in the seat member 130 to and abuts against the underside of the inner peripheral wall 130s so that the sealing member may be more positively held in position. The circular recess formed on the upper side of the seat member 130 is deeper than that of the circular recess on the upper side of the seat member 30 in the valve B. The plug 128 is formed with an annular recess 128:: which is deeper than the annular recess 280 in the plug 28 of the valve B. The coil spring 132 is disposed between the seat member 130 and the plug 128 in the same manner as in case of the spring 32 in the valve B. The other parts of the modified form of valve B are substantially the same as the corresponding parts of the first embodiment of valve B.

In operation, as a preparatory step, the bored tip of a liquefied gas supply bomb (not shown) which is normally closed by a cap (not shown) has the cap removed therefrom and the uncovered bomb tip is forced into the lower center bore 27a of the cylindrical member 27 (or the center bore 127a of the cylindrical member 127) until 1e tip abuts against the underside of the sealing member 1 or 131 whereupon the bomb tip pushes down the sealig member in opposition to the force of the coil spring 2 or 132 until the lateral bore 290 in the needle-like memer 29 will be uncovered whereby while the bomb tip is eing held in the cylindrical member 27 the liquefied gas 1el may be allowed to flow from the body of the bomb llOIlgh the bored bomb tip, the lateral bore 290 and enter bore 2% of the needle-like member 29 and the enter bore 28b of the plug 28 into the fuel reservoir 5. Vhen the tip of the bomb is removed out of the lower enter bore 27a of the cylindrical member 27 after the uel reservoir has been filled with a predetermined mount of liquefied gas fuel, the sealing member 31 or 31 is caused to return to its initial or normal lowered ealing position by the force of the coil spring 32 or 132 n which the lateral bore 29b is again sealingly covered y the sealing member 31 or 131 whereupon the sealing nember abuts against the shoulder 270 formed in the nner peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 27 reulting in a perfect sealing of the fuel reservoir 5.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention lave been shown and described in detail it will be undertood that they are for the purpose of illustration only 1nd are not to be taken as a definition of the scope of the nvention, reference being had for this purpose to the tppended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A liquefied gas fuel injection valve assembly com- Jrising a fuel reservoir adapted to be charged with a preletermined amount of liquefied gas fuel under pressure and sealingly hold the fuel therein, a cylindrical member lisposed within said reservoir and secured to the inner vall of the reservoir in the lower portion of the latter, 1 needle-like member extending vertically within said :ylindrical member and stationarily held in position, a slug secured to the inner peripheral wall of said cylindrical member at one end of the cylindrical member, an annular displaceable seat member floatingly disposed Within said cylindrical member in the vicinity of the other and of the cylindrical member, an annular deformable sealing member received within said seat member for displacement together with the seat member, and a coil spring disposed between said plug and seat member under compression for normally urging said sealing member to the sealing position, said cylindrical member having a vertically extending smaller diameter center bore opening at one end of the cylindrical member and a coaxial larger diameter bore in communication with said smaller diameter bore and having a thread in the inner periphery at the end remote from the smaller diameter bore, said smaller and larger diameter bores cooperating with each other to provide an annular shoulder in their junction, said plug being provided with a thread in the outer periphery for threaded engagement with said inner thread of the larger diameter bore and having a center through bore and an annular recess surrounding said center through bore in a peripherally spaced relation to the center bore so as to provide an annular partition wall therebetween, said an nular partition wall extending into said larger diameter center bore of the cylindrical member and terminating at a thinner inwardly bent end, said needle-like member extending within said smaller and larger diameter center bores of the cylindrical member along a substantial length of the cylindrical member in the longitudinal axis of the latter and having one pointed end and the other end of an enlarged diameter which is disposed within a cavity defined by the thinner inwardly bent extension of said partition wall and retained, stationarily held therein, said needle-like member further having a center bore extending along a substantial length thereof and in communication with said center bore of the plug and a lateral opening formed in the wall of said needle-like member and in communication with said center bore of the needle-like member, said lateral opening being normally sealed by said annular deformable member, and said coil spring having one end received within said annular recess in the plug and the other end received within a circular recess formed on one side of said seat member for normally urging said sealing member against said shoulder formed in the cylindrical member, said annular seat member having an integral vertical outer peripheral wall extending outwardly of the opposite sides thereof in the opposite directions, an integral inner vertical peripheral wall extending outwardly of one side of the seat member and an integral horizontal connecting portion which integrally connects between said outer and inner peripheral walls whereby a recess for receiving said deformable sealing member is formed on one side of the seat member and another recess for receiving the adjacent end of said coil spring is formed on the opposite side of the seat member, said deformable sealing member having a bulged extension which extends from said sealing member receiving recess through the center bore of said cylindrical member into said spring end receiving recess and abuts against the underside of the inner peripheral wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner EDWARD J. EARLS, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

